


blue

by shadoedseptmbr



Series: Tales from the Shelterverse [5]
Category: Dragon Age
Genre: Childhood Memories, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-27
Updated: 2012-12-27
Packaged: 2017-11-22 15:45:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/611483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadoedseptmbr/pseuds/shadoedseptmbr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He is six and his nan has brought him to see his beautiful mother...</p>
            </blockquote>





	blue

**Author's Note:**

> atomicpen has a list of prompts up at tumblr, under the name "100 Days of Fic." This one grabbed me and wouldn't let go.

**16 Guardian, 8 Dragon**

 

It was so _pretty_.

He'd seen it before, the silvery crown thing Mother wore on her dark head when she went to sit on the dias with Father. He knew its squiggly lines and loops and its blue rock that hung in the middle loop...no a jewel, like a treasure, Nan had said.

But he'd never seen it so close.

Sebastian had been brought to Mother's rooms so that she could look at him, Nan said. To see if his brown velvet doublet was acceptable, if his hair was brushed neatly enough. He was going to have his picture painted, she said. "And long past time, too, considering the other two were still in skirts when they had theirs done." But he wasn't supposed to have heard that part, Nan had been chatting with a gardener while Sebastian had been digging in the freshly turned earth. He'd found a long pale worm and a bit of smooth pale green glass. Nan had let him keep the treasure, but the worm belonged in the Maker's rich ground, so she said. 

Fine by him anyway. He'd seen Lucas' and Alex's pictures up in the east hall of Glâc Lan. Fat, round-eyed babies in long white dresses like they were lasses. Never mind that Lucas was two foot taller than Sebastian and Alex two stone heavier, now. He didn't want anyone to look at a picture of him in a dress when he was a big lad like them and poke fun. 

It had been Mother in those pictures that had drawn Sebastian's eye. In her long blue dresses, like the one she'd worn last month when Grandfather had stepped down and Father had taken his place as Prince. And her...."Nan? What's that, then?" He pointed at the silvery thing with it's blue jewel.

She looked up from the sock she was knitting. "Never seen a child go through socks like you, sweet laddie," she sighed. "Oh, now. That's the Vael circlet. Your mam wears it when she's being the Lady and well you know, you've seen it surely."

"Aye." In the other pictures, Mother had worn her dress and her...circlet, he turned the new word over in his mind. And baby Lucas and baby Alex had sat in her lap.

"Nan? Does it take a long time to make a painting?"

"Aye, it does. Hours and hours. You'll have to be good and still a great long time." She tapped him on his nose the last three words with her carved knitting needle and he grinned up at her.

"I can do it." Sebastian swore. Hours and hours. With his beautiful mother, just the two of them. Just like Lucas and Alex. Maybe...maybe not on her lap. He was heavy, so Nan told him when she helped him climb into his high bed. But _with_ her. "I can be still as _anything_."

Nan looked at him oddly and her voice was soft. "I know you can, sweetling." She blinked and looked down at her sock again.

Ignoring her sudden turn, Sebastian looked back at the circlet. It sat on a round cushioned stand on a small table with some boxes and wee bottles and a jar of brushes like Mother sat here and painted, too. A breeze fluttered the white drapery at the tall windows, open to air the room on an unexpectedly bright day in earliest spring, and the light caught in the flat places on the dangling jewel.

His piece of green glass caught light when he held it up. He'd tell Mother about it, while they were sitting...maybe he could just lean against her knee. And maybe she'd want to know about his other treasures, the tiny elfin arrowhead he'd found the last time he and Grandfather had gone walking and the six red feathers from an old nest in the peach tree just outside the kitchens and maybe....

"What are you doing?" His mother's voice startled him from where he been up on his toes, trying to see if he was tall enough to touch the stone. He jerked back and knocked one of the little glass jars off of the table, watching in horror as the powdery contents went flying as it crashed heavily towards the polished wood floor. He tried to catch it, but he only managed to deflect it to land on a woven carpet, so at least it didn't break. "Answer me!" 

"I was...I was just..."

"Maker's Breath, Sebastian! Stop mumbling like a crofter. Speak clearly."

He remembered now. "Yes, Mother. I'm sorry." His piping voice almost as clipped as hers.

"Better. Remember this mess before you touch something else that isn't yours." Mother glanced down with a sigh at the spill before she looked at him. She tilted her head, narrowing her large eyes, blue as jewels, blue as her...oh. She wasn't wearing a blue dress. She was in a dark red dress. It was pretty, too. But Sebastian didn't think it looked as soft as the ones in the other boys' pictures. "You look fine. The brown shows well on you." She said, brushing a speck of powder from his stiff, embroidered collar. It itched and he hated it. Looking at Nan she said, "Take him down to the Yellow Salon. Tomas said the light was best there."

Nan curtseyed. "Yes, Your Highness." She reached for Sebastian's hand but he was looking at his mother.

"Aren't you coming, too?"

She raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Why would I?"

"Th'...I mean, _The_ other pictures. With Lucas and Alex, you were..." _Holding them. They were on your lap_ "...there."

Mother had bent gracefully to pick up the spilled cut glass jar. "They were babies, Sebastian. You're a great big boy perfectly able to stand on your own. Remember to stand up straight and do as Master Tomas tells you. Nan, please tell Mathilde about this mess. Hurry now. Artists are so picky about light."

Alessandra Vael swept out of the room, the red skirt trailing. The door clicked, _locked_ , behind her as she retired to her salon. As if he might chase after her if she didn't keep him out. Someday she wouldn't keep him out, he'd know about keys and...

Sebastian felt as if he'd swallowed his bit of glass or maybe some of the powder but...but he was a big boy. He was six. He was...

Nan's freckled hand patted his shoulder and he looked up at her. "Come on, laddie. Don't spoil those fine eyes." She smoothed back the hair where it threatened to flop forward onto his forehead. "We'll go and have it over with. Afterwards, I think I know where Flossie had her kittens last week.

He blinked, once then twice, wanting to shout. He _knew_ where Flossie was. He'd seen those kits _yesterday_. But Nan was trying to be nice. "Yes, Nan." Sebastian followed quietly as she led him down the backstairs.


End file.
